I am honored to share that last week Nyaya Health became part of the 1% of organizations examined by GiveWell to be distinguished as a standout organization. GiveWell, deemed “the gold standard for giving” by the Boston Globe, takes their evaluations seriously. In fact, only 6 of the 750 organizations examined this year have earned this standing.Why has Nyaya Health stood out?For our ability to treat the poorest patients in Nepal, and for doing so with “unusual transparency.”

I love that description. Because if you worked alongside our dedicated team of 25 international volunteers and 108 paid Nepali staff as I do, you would quickly learn that there is nothing “usual” about the work we do. Our dual commitment to deliver health care to Nepal’s poorest and most marginalized, and to do so with a level of transparency that acts as a rebuke to the status quo, is driven by a fiery indignation.

Bayalpata Hospital, home of Nyaya Health’s operation in Achham District.

The origins of that indignation began five years ago, when three Yale medical students visited Achham District in Far-Western Nepal and bore witness to the horror of what happens when 260,000 people lack access to even a single allopathic physician. The injustices they saw – of mothers dying of AIDS for lack of access to drugs, and of children wasting from malnourishment – created a moral mandate to rapidly expand a system of comprehensive and quality health care.But that sense of indignation did not end with those images. It was unearthed time and time again as we were told that our vision was impossible. We were told such a system could not be achieved because of the lack of infrastructure, the isolation, the immense poverty, the political turmoil, and for lack of precedent – no one had done it before.But we are not the type of team that bows to such barriers.

And that is why the indignant flame of 3 has turned into a powerful fire of 133. Since 2008, 80,000 patients have been treated, and a system of community health has been built that covers 17,000 citizens while also providing dignified employment to 73 women. This has all been done in partnership with the government and transparently via our organizational wiki, where all of our materials including outcomes data, internal documents, email correspondences, and even line-by-line expenses for both Nepal and the U.S. are freely available to the public.

I write today to confirm that between our office in Boston and hospital in Bayalpata, something very unusual is indeed being built.

And it is my hope this holiday season that you can help us ensure there will be nothing at all usual about how we grow and transform health care in rural Nepal by making an investment in the life-changing work we do.

One Response to “Nyaya Health is the 1%”

This is a wonderful news, many many congratulations to the Nyayahealth family. I would like to thank the instigators of this noble project and all the people who have made it a possibility. It is truly inspiring for people who want to make a difference. All of the
133 deserve equal praise for their efforts of making this a reality. I hope this would be taken as an example by all the Nepalese people and understand that working together you can reach heights unimagined, as has Nyayahealth with the Bayalpata Hospital.